Coach McDonald played his college ball at the University of Missouri. He started all four years and earned All Big 8 and All-American honors his senior season. He holds single season records at Missouri for total and solo tackles. He ranks fifth on the all-time tackle list for Missouri. Following college, he spent two seasons in the Canadian Football League with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The next nine years he played Arena Football with stops in Milwaukee, Portland, Oklahoma City, Grand Rapids, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Coach McDonald started his coaching career at West Linn Middle School, Portland, OR in 2002, from 2003-2009 he served as the Defensive Coordinator/Linebacker Coach for Central Catholic, Portland, OR. In 2019 Coach McDonald returned to Central Catholic as the Inside Linebacker Coach.